


Put Your Makeup on, Fix Your Hair Up Pretty

by silver_ring5



Category: Arashi - Fandom, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Bruce Springsteen -- Atlantic City, Drabble, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-19
Updated: 2013-05-19
Packaged: 2017-12-12 08:29:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/809464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_ring5/pseuds/silver_ring5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired/driven by the lyrics of Bruce's "Atlantic City."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Put Your Makeup on, Fix Your Hair Up Pretty

I’d been upstairs when I heard the screen door bang. I smiled, realizing he was home on time that night. I threw the last couple of his tanks in the drawer with a random sock before rushing towards the stairs. I could hear him singing softly from the landing, and my heart skipped a beat. Kazu didn’t find much time to sing anymore.

His eyes flashed when they met mine, and his lips twitched up at the corners. I wondered about that look as I rushed towards him, flinging my arms around him. 

His lips were sweet and soft when they met mine, just like the first time-- just like every time. Kazu was the sweetest thing I’ve ever known. Even when he was so hard, even when he tried too hard to push through. He felt soft and sweet when those curved lips met mine.

We sat down at the table, not because I wanted to, but because Kazu said he had something to say. It made me a little afraid, to be honest. We have conversations, Ninomiya and I, but they’re almost never planned and they definitely aren’t conducted across a dinner table as if it were some sort of transaction.

We haven’t a deal, him and I. We’re just together because we like to be. No more, no less. Love does as it will do.

So, as I sat there, he started by telling me that the Prince was dead. He said they blew him up last night; that they blew up his house too. My hands clenched white in my lap. I knew the Prince. He had a name. He had a family. He had soft brown eyes. 

What was I going to say to his girl tomorrow? Mao and I went to night classes together...

“On the boardwalk, they’re getting ready for a fight. Gonna see what them racket boys can do,” Kazu continued, and I wondered how much further the local cops could be pushed, but he had more, “There’s trouble bustling in from out of state. The D.A. can’t get no relief.”

He sighed, and his eyes flickered his tiredness, “There’s going to be a rumble out on the promenade, and well now... Everything dies baby, that’s a fact. Maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”

He was scaring me now.

Kazu just smiled and said, a little sad but sweet, “Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.”

My man never spent money unless it was absolutely necessary, and he never, ever gambled... so this took me by surprise. We might go to Atlantic City with the guys. With his buddies. We’d hole up wherever Masaki or Sakurai went... but this wasn’t right. This didn’t feel right. Something was way too wrong with this trip, and I told Kazu so. . . but he just said I was bitching too much. He said I shouldn’t complain when he was inviting me out someplace nice.

And I guess that’s true. 

So I nodded and apologized and Kazu held me close. He held me so I could feel his pulse in the crook of his neck. I wanted to taste it, but my love, he had more to say.

“I got a job, you know,” Kazu said softly, against my hair, and I nodded, “But I’ve got debts that an honest man just can’t pay.”

I pulled back slightly so I could see his face, but he did his best to avoid meeting my eyes.

“So I drew what I had from the central trust and I bought us two tickets on that old city bus,” Nino murmured, a little distracted-- a little bit as if he felt guilty.

He looked up, suddenly, and met my eyes again to repeat, “Everything dies, baby. That’s a fact.... And maybe everything that dies, someday comes back.”

And he told me again to get ready to go to Atlantic City, and how I should wear my heavy stockings because the nights were growing cold. And, of course, I nodded. I’d go where my Kazu went, and I’d be warm while doing it.

He spoke as if it were nothing, as if it didn’t matter. But Kazu’s eyes told a different story. They were worried. I could tell by the way he tried to control them. He tried to hide himself behind them... He should know by now that I can tell.

I squeezed his arm, placed a kiss on his cheek, and told him I was going upstairs to grab a bag-- just like he said. I filled it with a few articles of clothing, and I put my skirt and stockings on. I put on some more make up, did up my night-look... and I looked nice for my man. Not because I needed to, and not because I necessarily felt like it, but because it made the night feel celebratory-- and Kazu wanted that, for some reason.

 

“You still love me?” he whispered as I came back downstairs, eyes dark with winged liner; lips a popping cherry red.

I told him forever and always... Just like always. Just like when we’d been in school together.

“Now I’ve been looking for a job, but it’s hard to find,” Kazu said, his voice soft and somewhat vulnerable, “Down here it’s just winners and losers, and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line... Well, I’m tired of coming out on the losing end. So, honey, last night I met this guy and I’m going to do a little favor for him.”

I felt all of the air leave my body. Everything went cold...  
“Everything dies baby, that’s a fact,” my Kazu started again, “and maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Fix your hair up nice, stand up pretty, and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.”


End file.
